


Frozen Candles: Blossom

by partyaminal



Category: Chaotic (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Original Character(s), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Survival, War, frozen (chaotic), older main cast
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-03
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-08-16 18:40:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16500674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/partyaminal/pseuds/partyaminal
Summary: The war for the Cothica has reached dangerous levels. But one failed experiment to connect the Frozen and Overworld tribes resulted in a group of Humans returning to Perim after roughly twenty years (or forty solons). Unfortunately the humans barely, if at all, remember Perim or her creatures and due to an incident back on Earth fifteen years prior, they have grown paranoid and mistrustful of the creatures around them.





	1. Perim

**Author's Note:**

> "After they left, not many noticed, life moved on, war continued. When they came back, they were different"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A look at Perim.

The Overworld capital of Kiru city was engulfed in flames. Burning buildings, families fleeing, belongings burning along with the corpses of Overworlders. Just as Chaor had hoped for. The guards and uninjured warriors helped as many civilians as they could evacuate the burning city as Intress searched for Maxxor.

"MAXXOR!!!" Intress yelled as she aimlessly ran through the ruined and crumbling tower. "MAXXOR!" she screamed again near the stairs on the sixth floor of the tower, the floor began to shake as more of the tower started to crumble, causing the feline to nearly fall to the ground. She quickly and nervously turned her head to look around for any sign of the green tattooed man. Her ears perked up as she heard the sound of someone moaning in pain.

She pinpointed the sound coming from an exposed area above her as the floor began to shake again. Before she was thrown off balance, she squatted as low as she could before using the strength in her legs and some energy to jump up into the expose area. She leaped over the hole and into the room directly above the stairs, she was greeted by blinding smoke and a fire in the far corner of the room blocking the door. "MAXXOR!" the feline yelled again, this time however, she heard the person she was looking for yell back "INTRESS! I'M OVER HERE!"

Intress turned her head and spotted Maxxor under some rubble sporting some nasty cuts and bruises. The feline raced over to where the green man was lying and quickly started moving just enough rubble where she could easily grab him and pull him out. The feline said to the Overworld leader in an alarmed tone "Maxxor get up, we need to get out of the tower before it falls". The floor began to shake again and the sound of the tower crumbling got louder, Maxxor stood up as Intress wrapped one of his arms around her so he could have support. "Chaor crossed the line this time" he said as Intress quickly used a wind attack to clear the fire blocking the door, "we can worry about Chaor and the Underworld later, we need to get out of here!" she said.

Both the feline and orc exited the room and made a sharp right turn and started making their way down the stairs. The floor began to shake again and the sound of the tower crumbling grew louder, "I don't think we'll make!" Intress yelled over the sound of the tower crumbling, Maxxor yelled back to her "well lets give it a shot anyway".

Meanwhile in the Underworld, well more likely the Underworld infirmary----

Chaor walked across the big room with medical beds placed evenly across from one another with sickly (and all intents and purposes, almost dead) looking children of all shapes and forms.

"How could the Overworld do such a thing?" the red giant thought to himself over the sounds of coughing, wheezing, and crying children. "I thought Maxxor and the rest of the Overworld were honorable" he thought to himself as he watched one of the children struggling to breath.

Agitos quickly walked up to the red giant and spoke "my lord, if I may". Chaor turned around and barked "WHAT!", Agitos, who wasn't effected by this in the slightest spoke "more sick children are entering the infirmary and we're out of beds, what do we do?"  
Chaor ordered "beds or not, get more blankets and pillows and find whatever spot to place them so they won't get in the way!" Agitos was about to leave to fulfill his orders until the red giant spoke again "and Agitos". The blue lizard turned around before Chaor spoke again "tell Khybon and Ulmar that if they can't find a cure in time, we'll have to kiss goodbye to a generation of Underworlders".

Agitos nodded before speaking "my lord, may I ask, do you really believe that the Overworlders were responsible for creating this disease?" the red demon looked at the blue lizard and said "natural or not, what's done is done, and at this point there's no turning back". Agitos nodded before quickly leaving the room to go and find more blankets and pillows.

Chaor stood still and pinched the bridge of his nose trying to figure out what to do next as more of the Underworlds youth poured into the building.

Meanwhile in the Mipedian Oasis----

Mudeenu sat on the throne with his hand over his mouth like he was trying to think while Tiaane stood by the pillar to the left of the throne. "Crown Prince Mudeenu!" a green Mipedian wearing robes quickly entered the throne room. "What is it! can't you see I'm busy thinking!?", the Mipedian quickly apologues before speaking "your majesty Fivarth's group have been spotted near the Oasis gates".  
"Again!" the muscular Mipedian slammed his fist down on the thrones armrest before ordering "have Jorre and some of the remaining stalkers head to the gates, I'll make my way there shortly". The robed Mipedian bowed before quickly leaving the throne room.

"I tried being nice and gentle as I can. Now look where it got me" the royal Mipedian mumbled to himself. Tiaane held a disappointed look as he shook his head. Mudeenu turned to the elder muge and asked "do you have something on your mind you wish to say?"

Tiaane looked at the royal and said "yes". The royal Mipedian nodded singling for the elder muge to speak, "who are we fighting?" he asked. Mudeenu arched an eyebrow and said "huh?" causing Tiaane to repeat "who are we fighting?" the muge continued to elaborate "we're not fighting the Overworld, nor the Underworld, nor are we storming the Danian's hive. So I'll ask again, who are we fighting?"

The royal quickly responded "a rebellion of course! a rebellion started by a conjurer and a couple of deserters". Tiaane still holding his look of disappointment replied "that conjurer is one of the more dangerous of conjurers and those deserters were some of your most loyal stalkers and sentries and even your own blood".

Mudeenu replied "but do you see me ordering lethal force? public executions? anything like that?" The muge shook his head and responded "no. But you were the one to raise the water tax, you were the one who started making questionable decision that effect the public despite mine and many other of your advisers advice, you were the one who threw your cousin a big going away party just to get rid of him!"

The royal barked back "I'll have you know I respect my cousin and the people of the Oasis and beyond!"

Tiaane face turned into something more demonic as he hissed in anger "you can lie to yourself all you want but don't lie to me and think I'll take it with a smile on my face!" Mudeenu leaned back away from the muge as he continued "you caused all this! Fivarth and many others were patient with you when you took Iflar's place after he left for his exile. You started this rebellion because you thought nothing can touch you, now look where we're at! Look at all the people you pushed away! Open your eyes for Cothica's sake!"

"Then why are you still here?" the royal asked.

Tiaane answered before he turned to leave the throne room "I don't know anymore".

Meanwhile at Mount. Pillar----

"This is nonsense!" Odu-Bathax yelled at Vollash who was guarding the entrance to the Elder of The Nests chambers. Vollash shot back "what's nonsense Odu? the fact that Illexia doesn't trust you to do anything she tells you anymore? or is it the fact that you think you're invincible now that Aszil has given you a promotion?"

Odu-Bathax pointed at Vollash and said "now that's a load of dung and you know it! You aren't out on the battlefield day in and out trying to keep this colony safe!" The wing Danian responded "and who is the one who starts those battles Odu? would it be...YOU! how many of our own kind have you hurt or nearly killed outside of battle?" he then threaten "and get your finger out of my face before I rip your arm off!"

While Odu and Vollash continued to argue outside the chambers. Inside the chambers, Illexia has her two front arms covering her face. She had been crying for quite sometime and didn't want the rest of her followers to see her like this, she mumbled "what did I do wrong?" to herself. She picked up a photo of her daughter she left laying on her bed, she stared deep into the photo of her happy little Danian girl for a few minutes before she placed the photo against her chest and repeated "what did I do wrong?"

She couldn't believe, didn't want to believe that her daughter, one of the few creatures that made her happy turned into the very thing she had taught her not to be. She wanted to blame someone, Odu, maybe Lore or someone else. But the only person she had to blame was herself and the worst part was, she didn't know what she did wrong. She didn't know what had happened to the sweet little girl she use to play with whenever she had the chance.

Illexia wiped away the tears before she placed the photo down back on the bed. She hung her head down as she heard the sounds of Vollash and Odu arguing outside. She covered her face up again with her hands and thought to herself "what happened to my tribe?"

A few days later----

Maxxor was sitting in his tent with his chest wrapped up with bandages somewhere out in the Forest of Life. It took some time but he managed to convinced both Bodal and Najarin to join her plan. "Are you sure this would even work?" Najarin asked as he looked over Bodal's designs of a ring of some sorts, he could tell that by looking through the multiple papers detailing every design that this was elaborate and possibly dangerous.

"Bodal's schematics maybe a little rough around the edges but I have enough trust in him to pull this off" Maxxor said as he watched the elder muge look over the designs. Najarin looked over at Maxxor and spoke "I have my doubts that this would work, I'm more so concerned over the possibility that this...thing might bring something else instead of the Frozen out". The green orc had to admit, he didn't think about that in his blind rage.

Maxxor sighed before saying "at this point in time. I think we need to take a chance". "Uh huh" the blue muge responded before he put the papers down. Maxxor knew that Najarin was a serious creature, he also knew that he had always been a busy creature, he also knew that the muge didn't like having his time wasted unless there was something of great importance.

Najarin turned to look at Maxxor and said "alright". Just what Maxxor had hoped for him to say. "I will telepathically instruct the Frozen on how to build this...thing" the old muge said before he continued "but I'm not guaranteeing anything. If it works it works but if it doesn't...."  
"Then we're on our own" Maxxor finished.

Najarin sat still and entered a meditative state of mind as he began to communicate with the leaders of the Frozen.

One solon (half a year) later----

A man with shaggy dark hair sat on a cold stone slab inside a stone castle. He rubbed his short dark beard with his gloved hands in an attempt to stay warm. The hood of his dark blue parka kept whatever wind that blew through the castle out of his face his dirty blue jeans on the other hand couldn't do much of the same to his legs. His black slip-proof work boots show signs of wear and tare but stayed true to their word of being slip-proof. Though he was bland in appearance, much to the opposite opinion of the creatures who saw him, the only noticeable thing about this man was that he wore a police badge over his heart.

He didn't pay no mind to the creatures around him, hell, he kept wondering if they were going to attack him and his friends. He didn't like the fact that he was in unfamiliar surroundings nor did he buy the whole "welcome party" the creatures threw his kind. His mind began to race of all the possible outcomes to could occur to him and his friends involving the creatures around them. He was pulled out of his train of thought when a familiar female voice called out his name.

"Tom"


	2. The Throne of The North

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Somethings telling me there's more going on behind her "warm" smile".  
> \- Sarah Laurence.

Tom turned his head to face a woman with a burned mark on the right side of her face standing next to him. She was roughly the same age as Tom, maybe a little older, still. She was wearing a dirty orange down jacket and some dark blue jeans and a pair of brown sneakers.

Tom lightly smiled and said "hey Sarah".

Sarah tilted her head a little and asked "you doing alright?" the man shrugged and answered "I don't have a clue anymore". The woman sat down next to him and asked "is there something you need to talk about?" Tom looked at her, his smile turned into a blank expression as he said "there's a lot I want to talk about. But this isn't the best time or place to talk about that stuff, maybe some other time".

The girl sighed "things will get better Tom". The man's smile returned as he commented "you know, for a second there, you almost sounded like Peyton". Sarah smiled and joked "oh god no! next you're probably going to say that I could fit inside of a clown car!"

The two shared a laugh.

As soon as the laughing faded, there was a silence, Tom looked up at the stone ceiling above the two as no one said a word. Sarah broke the silence by saying "but in all seriousness Tom, I think things will get better, because right now I don't think we can afford a 'fight or flight' scenario to happen. We don't know these...creatures? yeah, creatures, what kind of technology they got or what they're capable of. And we sure as hell don't know what's out there, IF there's anything out there".

The man pondered on what the woman said before asking "but what if things don't get better and this is a trap of sorts?"  
The woman shrugged and answered "then we're screwed, unless someone is able to smooth talk all of us out of here which I find hard to believe".

There was another pause.  
This time however, Tom was the one to break the silence "hey, remember the Henry Ford Museum?" the woman arched an eyebrow and answered "yeah?" the man followed up by saying "remember that one car we were looking at and you said that if you could you would drive that thing out the front door?" Sarah remembered that moment and what she said before answering "oh yeah! I really liked the looks of that car. 1931 Bugatti Type 41 Royal Convertible, that was a nice looking car, I could've imagine me driving down the highways in style".

The man chimed in "with the exception of gas" Sarah raised her index finger and said "yeah, then there's that".

Tom lightly laughed as Sarah lowed her hand. The two sat quite again before Tom asked "so...do you think we can trust these...things?" The woman thought for a moment before answering "to tell the truth Tom, I don't know. The only thing I know is that there's no turning back".

Tom leaned back till his back was hitting the stone wall behind him. He remember building the weird metal heptagon gate like machine, he remembered scavenging for the parts to build it, and he remembered the weird dreams that he had been receiving days on end detailing how to build the object. But most importantly, he remembered how nervous everyone was to step through the machine and where it was going to lead them.

Looking back, he started to regret not ignoring those weird dreams.

Then he remembered that he hasn't seen Peyton or Kaz after they all arrived to this strange land. He turned to Sarah and asked "hey, did you see where Kaz and Peyton went? I haven't seen them in a while".  
The woman looked at Tom and answered "last I saw Peyton, he was walking around the city before I came here but I remember he didn't stray far from the group. As for Kaz, last I say him, he was leaning against the wall outside one of the buildings, again, not far from the rest of the group".

The man let out a sigh of relief before commenting "I hope those two don't wonder off and get lost. Last thing we need is for all thirty of us to go out and get lost looking for them".

The woman patted the man on the back and said "they're fine Tom. The only thing we should be worrying about is what this...high up creature wants to talk to us about".  
Tom looked at Sarah with a worried look plastered onto his face "I got a bad feeling about this" he said. The woman didn't know what to say to reassure him that things might work out.

The door down the end of the hallway to the throne room opened. A creature heavily resembling an arctic hare wearing white robes walked out of the throne room, the creature looked at the two humans sitting on the stone slab and motioned for them to come towards him.

Tom sighed and said "one for the money, two for the fame, and three to get this over with" as he stood up and walked over to the artic hare with Sarah following closely behind.

They walked up to the creature who said "so you are two of the humans that came through "The Gate"? you are humans, right? I hope this doesn't sound rude, but I was under the impression that you all were more...threatening. Based on what I was told on your appearance".

Tom turned his head to look at Sarah who shot him a confused look before returning his attention to the hare with a confused expression on his face as well. The hare waited for a few seconds before continuing "well, you see, your clothes are filthy and falling apart with what looks like makeshift patching covering some of the tears and holes, and some of you had dried blood around their feet and lower pants legs...some of you also had this grim look on your faces that screamed "we are highly perceptive and dangerous...don't mess with is"...you didn't see the armored guards with the swords?"

The two humans remained silent with the look of confusion still fixated on their faces. The creature coughed before continuing "our queen saw this and claimed to have felt some kind of survivalist/hunter/warrior aura radiating off of your kind...so...I think that's a good sign...I hope".

"You hope?" Sarah repeated. Tom finally spoke up "uh, how about we starts from the beginning? Hello, my name is Thomas Majors" the man pointed to the woman standing next to him and continued "and this is my friend Sarah Laurence and yes, we are humans". The woman arched one of her eyebrows and did a little wave before Tom extended his hand out.  
The creature looked at the man's hand for a second before shaking the hand and responding "nice to meet Thomas Majors" he turned to look at Sarah and said "nice to meet you two Sarah Laurence", he looked back at Tom and said "my name is Starthor".

The creature looked behind him and said "lets...not keep the queen waiting".

The two humans nodded in agreement before the creature turned around and led them into the throne room.

The room was made of stone and had torches decorated around the room to keep both light and warmth close by. There was a carpet made from the hide from some kind of big creature that extended from the door all the way to the steps of the stone throne where once it reached the steps to the throne, the color and fabric changed to a more whitish color until it reached the foot of the throne itself. The walls were decorated with paintings and stone statues depicting different creatures carrying different weapons and sporting different armors. Hanging from the ceiling above the center of the throne room was a chandelier made from crystal with lit candles sitting on the ends of it. And sitting on the stone throne on the far end of the room was a female saber tooth tiger with a polar bear standing a near few feet away from her and a artic fox wearing a similar white robe but the difference being that there appears to be a red snow flake on the heart of his robes standing next to her.

The saber tooth was pure white, just as the snow that fell to the ground. her eyes were blue and her claws where sharper than the bear's. Her dark-sliver is long and messy and reached a little pass the shoulder blades.

The leather armor she wore was both tough and protective and just loose enough for high mobility. The armors shoulders are fairly rounded yet small in size and decorated with a masterfully crafted leather demon wing on each side.  
The upper arms are protected by squared, half covering rerebraces which sit perfectly under the shoulder plates. The lower arms are covered by vambraces which have crafted leather feathers covering the outer sides.  
The breastplate is made from one large piece of leather with edges of fur, which sits perfectly just under the shoulder plates. It covers the entire front and back side, but the attachment straps leave the sides under the arms exposed.  
The upper legs are covered by a skirt of horizontal layers of leather and fur reaching down to the knee. The lower legs are protected by leather shin guards.

The crown she was wearing was made of some gold-like material with metallic wing-shaped ornaments, on the sides.

The saber tooth smiled and said "ah! finally able to meet a human face to face. Approach".  
Tom and Sarah walked up to the throne until the polar bear wearing a more thinner leather armor held his steel-like ax across the two humans forcing them to stop. "Are you sure these...things are worth your time your majesty? these two don't even look like much of a threat or ally, better off just to throw them into the blizzard and move on" the bear said.

Sarah gave the bear a pissed off look and threaten "let me get my hand on a knife and I'll turned your hide into a blanket...or a throw rug". The bear shot into the woman's face and violently growled, instead of being fazed or pushed back, the woman growled in return, though not as loud or threatening. Tom looked at the polar bear and said "I hope you written to you're next of kin. Because if you don't back up, I'm going to be the last thing you will ever see and not her".

"Down Osphron" the queen ordered, causing the polar bear to snarl and take a few steps back.

The queen turned her attention back to the two humans before commenting "not many, if any, would threaten a Coldwatcher. Especially one that towers over them. With that in mind, you two must be either very brave and strong will...or very stupid or suicidal. Lets hope it's the former, for all parties sake".

Sarah turned her attention to the saber tooth and asked "I know this is out of nowhere and all, but where are we?" The queen responded "ah yes, that would be a good place to start, you my fair haired friends are standing in my families castle, in the heart of the capital of the Frozen tribe. Welcome to Venneskan". She stood up and continued "this world, Perim, it is not kind to those who don't have allies, or don't know how to defend themselves, or anyone in general".

Sarah turned to Tom and quietly spoke so only he could hear her when she said "Perim? I don't like the sound of this Tom". The man spoke quietly back to the woman "I don't like this either, this whole thing is starting to spell "trap"".

The queen watched as the two humans talked quietly to each other before speaking "I understand if you two are having a hard time trusting us and thinking we're going to stab you in the back. If I was in your position, I would be having the same doubts". She walked over to the two humans and continued "but the Frozen are a simple tribe, we respect strength, willpower, and bravery, we like a good hunt, and we do everything in our power to avoid the other four tribes down south pass Glacier Plains to the best of our abilities".

Tom returned his attention back to the queen and repeated "other four tribes?"

The saber tooth nodded and answered "yes, other four tribes, to the far south-west of Perim, lies the home of the scaly Mipedians. In center directly south of here is the home of the Overworlders. Slightly south-east of here is the pillar home of the Danians. And finally on the opposite end of Perim lies the home of the Underworlders". The queen took a breath before continuing "there were two other tribes, but they are gone now".

Sarah asked how causing the queen to explain "one was eradicated by unknown means, barley anyone remembers what the name of their tribe was or where their tribe was. The other was the M'arrillians, they were driven behind the doors to the deep mines, they resurface once many solons ago to wage a war against the other tribes, but were driven back behind the doors again".

Tom waited for the saber tooth to finish before asking "so...are we a tribe now?" The queen paused to think for a moment, she didn't really considered that a possibility. After a few moments she answered "well, no. Thirty individuals may sound like a great amount to form a tribe. But when you calculate area of control, warriors, scouts, guards, muges, and a leader or ruling house or government, the numbers come up short".

The man then asked "so where does that leave us?" The saber tooth was about to say something when the arctic fox walked up to the queen and spoke "a word with your majesty". The queen turned to look down at the smaller creature (compared to her anyway) and began to listen to what he had to say. Meanwhile, the human woman turn to the human man and asked in a hushed tone "do you think we can trust her?"

The man shrugged and answered "if there's any other option that can end this peacefully, I don't see it"

The queen nodded her head to the arctic fox and returned her attention back to the two humans and smiled. "it has come to my attention that I might have an answer for your question". The two raised their eyebrows as the queen said "directly south-west of here is the town of Ringholt. The town is in the middle of reconstruction from a bad snow storm that happened a solon ago, and improvements are being made to prevent the buildings from collapsing again. I'll make you a deal. If your group helps in the reconstruction of RIngholt, then the town will be your groups home. Think of it as...being an unofficial branch of the Frozen".

Tom, still not convinced, asks "is there anything else we should know about this town? any local threats? or anything?"

The saber tooth responded "an inquiry one aren't you?" The man shrugged and responded "I just don't like us taking chances with a lot of unknowns". The queen spoke "other then the weather? nothing much of anything really".

Tom looked at Sarah and whispered "what do you think?" The response he got back was just a shrug.

The man sighed before returning his attention back to the saber tooth to answer "sounds good".

The queen clapped her hands and spoke "excellent!" she turned to look at the arctic fox and said "Lask, I need you and Erp to meet these two near the city square with the rest of the humans and began preparations for the journey to Ringholt!" the artic fox saluted the saber tooth and said "yes mam!"

The queen turned her attention back to the two humans and said "by the way, I did not get your names". Tom extended his hand and said "my name is Thomas Majors", Sarah extended her hand and said "and I am Sarah Laurence".  
The saber tooth shook both their hands and responded "and I am queen Maria-Asg. Daughter to king Hallfrid, and grand-daughter to Hinya-Iha".

Both the humans knew they weren't going to remember the rest of what she said other than her name.

And with the introduction out of the way, Queen Maria-Asg walked back to her throne while both Sarah and Tom exited the throne room.

Osphron turned to Maria-Asg and asked "you really want to run that experiment on them? Just thirty of them on their own in a world they didn't know existed?" The saber tooth turned her attention to the polar bear and said "this is the perfect opportunity I've been waiting for" she turned to face the arctic fox "Lask, if they need anything, whether it be a trade deal or request, they talk to you and you come to me. Other than that, just record anything note worthy". Lask saluted the queen again and responded "yes mam!"

The polar bear asked "so what are we doing exactly?" Maria-Asg turned back to the polar bear and said "Osphron, we're just going to watch. If they need assistance, assist them other than that, just sit back and watch".


	3. Cold Town

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "There's a lot of work that needs to be done here"  
> \- Thomas Majors.

The thirty humans gathered around square began talking to each other. Some talked about the strange city, some talked about the creatures, and some pondered on what will happen to them next.

Kaz asked Peyton "So what's going to happen next?" The older, slightly overweight man wearing a pair of baggy cargo pants with tape wrapped around the shins turned to face his red haired friend and answered "I don't know Kaz, just keep calm and wait until Tom comes back". A gust of wind hit the two, causing the older man's thick winter hooded denim jacket to nearly pull him back a little.

The older man quickly pulled his jacket closer and zipped it. The red haired man said "this is hell!" as the wind stopped.

The red haired man's whaleback waterproof jacket was doing its best to keep him warm, same as Peyton's was, but with the mix of wear and tare on both their jackets, they weren't doing their jobs all the way.

Kaz then asked "why are we all standing out here instead of being inside somewhere warmer?" Peyton then told Kaz with an annoyed look on his face "look, I can't control the weather! I can only say positive things to keep our heads on straight! you want my advice for right now? keep calm, don't move, and wait until Tom comes back! After that? I don't know, flip out, loose your cool, dance. I don't know but just wait".

Kaz was about to say something back until the sight of both Tom and Sarah caught both their attention.

"Any news?" the red haired man asked as both the man and woman stopped in front of the two guys. Sarah was the first to speak "yeah. We made a deal". Tom chimed in to clarify "well technically we were offered a place to stay and possible membership of the tribe".  
Peyton gave both Tom and Sarah a confused look and said "so, what's our end of the deal?" The man with the police badge answered "in return we have to help in the reconstruction of the place we get to stay at. A town called "Ringholt".

Kaz and Peyton turned to look at each other before turning back to look at the two. Peyton was the first to speak ""Ringholt?" who came up with that name?" Kaz followed up "sounds like there was a public raffle to named the town not to long ago and that was the name that got picked".

Sarah responded "we can talk about how random the name of the town is some other time. Right now, lets talk about the deal at hand!" Tom nodded in agreement.

Peyton raised his hands and responded to the woman "ok, ok. Repair the town, and we get to live there. Right?" Tom answered "that's it". Kaz then asked "so let me get this straight. We help fix a town we know next to nothing about for and with these animals that we know next to nothing about and we get to live there after we're through with nothing more than someone you two talked to "promising" that as an outcome if we help rebuild this town?"  
Sarah answered "that's pretty much it".

Peyton spoke up "with what Kaz here said in mind and with this suppose deal that was made. There's a lot of unknowns and possible risk of backstabbing should we go through with this deal. But at the same time, it's either that, or freeze to death somewhere out there". Tom responded "agreed".

"I have to agree with Peyton" Sarah commented and continued "it would be nice to settle somewhere warmer. But at the same time, the queen's friendly attitude seemed more like a mask than a genuine warm welcoming offer. I think we should tread carefully". Tom responded "again. Agreed".

The sound of snow crunching behind them caused Tom and Sarah turn around as Peyton and Kaz leaned a little to the side to see an arctic fox in white robes walked towards them.

Tom was the first to speak up "Lask, Is it?" The arctic fox responded in a calm yet slightly scratchy voice "yes, and you are Tom. The leader of your group? yes?" the bearded man gave the fox a confused look before answering "I may be wearing this badge but it doesn't mean I'm the one in charge of these guys"  
Lask tilted his head a little with an equally confused expression on his face. He then asked "but if your not the leader, then who is?" Sarah chimed in to answer "well, we don't have one".  
Lask then proceeded to ask "but who will be in charge of you all?"

Tom was about to say something until Peyton placed a hand over his shoulder and said "I'm sorry if we don't have a leader Lask. We aren't properly organized nor are we prepared to make such a decision just yet. right now, repairing your town is our top priority, then we'll decide who is the leader". Tom nodded in agreement with the guy.

The fox just shrugged and said "very well then". Tom asked the fox "you ready to move out?"

It took some time, but once the humans were organized, they began their journey with the two Frozen tribesmen leading them south-west to the town of Ringholt.

"If the weather remains clear, we should reach the town by the end of the day!" Lask yelled to the humans following him and his companion. Sarah yelled at the fox over the sound of the loud whipping of the wind "if this kind of weather is considered clear then I hate to imagine what you consider windy!" Lask laughed before yelling back "trust me! up here, it gets worse than this, but where you all are going, this would be the worse you'll ever get!"  
Kaz yelled to the fox "is that suppose to make us feel better?!" Lask yelled back to the red haired guy "did it?!" Kaz answered "no, not really!" The fox then replied "by the way! you just answered your own question!"

Sarah turned to look at Peyton and said "I'm beginning to like this guy". Peyton just snorted and smiled in response.

The group continued to march across the cold tundra like environment, eventually coming to a stop in front of a river that is partially frozen with snow lightly falling all around. Kaz looked over his shoulder at the snow white hills behind him, he rubbed his hands against the stone cold ground and began to feel what was the remains of grass. With this in mind, he began to calculate that the group had made some great distance between the northern city and where they are right now. When he looked across the river, he saw the feint outlines of what looked like trees that confirmed his calculations.

The fox and his companion sat down near the river bank. The humans just sat down at randomly with some sitting near the bank, some sitting at a distance from everyone else and others in-between. The humans were cold, their bodies shaking due to the cold weather with bits and pieces of snow covering their dirty clothes. Lask notice this and went to go and ask Tom about the problem.

Tom and co. were sitting between seven random groups of people talking and trying to stay warm by either wrapping their arms against themselves or by curling up into a ball. Kaz was rubbing his hands when he said "that wind is murder" causing the other three to agree with him.

The arctic fox finally managed to find the very person he was looking for after weaving through the people sitting randomly around. "Your people are shaking rather violently, I haven't seen anyone act like this outside of infants. Is everything alright with them?" Lask asked in a curious tone. Tom answered "most of us don't have hair or fur that covers our entire body like you guys do". The arctic fox looked around at the cold humans and then asked "is there anyway to keep them warm?"  
This time Peyton was the one to answer the question "the only thing keeping us warm is the clothes on our backs until we reach the town. Hopefully, there will be some place to get warm or a fire or something".

Lask placed his hand under his muzzle and thought for a moment. Kaz turned to look at Tom with a confused face before he pointed at the arctic fox, Tom shrugged, that was the only answer he could provide.

The fox then spoke "If I'm not mistaking, the Mixosy festival should have started yesterday". Sarah raised an eyebrow and asked "and this has to do with keeping warm how?"  
Lask answered "the Mixosy festival lasts all week and normally ends the nights with a bonfire. And we should arrive just in time for the bonfire".

Kaz looked over at Sarah and said "at least we have something to look forward to". The girl nodded in agreement.

The group and Lask continued to talk until Erp inform the arctic fox about the time of the day. By then, the two creatures and thirty humans resumed their journey to the town.

With time slipping by, and with the red and orange sky turning dark, the group wasted no time picking up their speed to reach the town before dark. The group had climbed more hills and began to walk through dense snow covered forests with more traces of grass starting to become more and more common.

Tom began to see traces of what looked like houses in the distance with what could probably be lanterns lighting up the town across from another river. The arctic fox announced to the thirty humans "alright! down this hill and across that river is Ringholt! We should reach the town in just a few more minutes!"  
Sarah, now shivering and shaking like a leaf, looked at Peyton and said "ab..about Ti..ti..ti..time!" Peyton opened his jacket and placed half of it around the woman. With her body against his and his other half of the jacket around her, she made no rejections, she wanted to get warm.

Lask continued his announcement "there should be food and a bonfire available once we reach the town! I should let you know now that at least half of the towns populous has abandon it! so if you stumble across any empty houses, consider it yours until the reconstruction of the town has ended! then we need to discuss the possibility of a leader amongst you!"

The humans began to mumble amongst themselves, saying things like "I don't want to do that", "like run this town?", "shit that sounds nice and all but I probably won't like it", "I don't think we can manage that sort of responsibility".  
Tom mumbled under his breath "not this again, not now".  
A voice from within the group asked "what about Tom? wasn't he the sheriff of our last town or something?" Just then, the voices within the crowd began to sound both in agreement and disagreement. It was obvious that it was a mix thought but there was some support that outweighed the negative.

Kaz, Peyton, and Sarah looked at Tom. Kaz was the first to speak "they have a point" with Peyton continuing "I guess you're the leader".  
Tom, annoyed yelled back into the group "HEY! we can play politics and voters later! but right now, we have a town that needs to be rebuilt and possible more problems to come! we should get warm first and finish the towns reconstruction before we worry about who's the leader or who's the alpha and omega and beta and everything else that goes down the list!"

The group of humans went silent with no one daring to murmur anything.

Lask stood silent for a moment before saying "uh...thank you Tom. Lets move, shall we?"

The group walked down the hill and made their way to the river. The arctic fox announced "this river is where the town gets it's water. Behind the town a little ways are the mountains that arch around the town and meet the river at two points, this creating an imperfect ring from a cartographers point of view. The mountains are also known to (normally) keep bad storms away from the town, stopping them in their place. Hence why the town is called Ringholt".

Across the stone bridge that entered the town, the noises of people singing and laughing echoed. Everyone took note of some of the damaged buildings lingering at the entrance to the town. They began to wonder just how bad of a condition are these buildings, some also took note of the fact that the buildings seem to resemble those the Vikings of old use to build.

Lask and Erp escorted the thirty humans into the town and towards the towns center where the remaining towns folk were celebrating.

The towns people varied in species. Some foxes here, some lynxes there, some minks over there, and some caribou over here.  
Some of the towns people were dancing around a bonfire while others were singing and some were telling stories to some of the young creatures while others choose to drink some kind of strange but strong smelling brew. Most, if not all of them were smiling and laughing with each other.

Their facial expressions changed from happy to confused and on some levels creeped out and the noises stopped when they saw the humans standing behind the arctic fox and his companion.  
And who could blame them? they saw strange figures they have never seen before with grim, scarred and scar covered faces and messed up clothing. They didn't know their intentions or why they chose to come to their town near the blanket of darkness.

Peyton broke the silence by walking over to one of the towns people and asked where he could get some of the brew.  
Some of the humans also joined in to break the silence, but many others just remained quite and sat near the bonfire.

Eventually, the towns folk went back to the things they were doing before with the difference being that they have some strange people with them. A few humans were drinking while few took part in telling stories from either myths or from books they remembered reading to the young creatures. But most just sat near the bonfire wondering what tomorrow will bring.

Sarah sat next to Tom. She looked at him and asked "are you ok?" as she studied his somewhat distant stare. He turned to look at her and answered "In some regards, no. But one thing I am happy about, is the fact that at least we got a place to live. That has to count for something. Right?"

Sarah turned her head back towards the bonfire and replied "we'll see old friend. We'll see".


	4. Reconstruction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Hammers, nails, stones, wood. Don't worry, we know what we're doing. We did this before....."  
> -Thomas Majors

His eyes slowly opened to reveal a dirty but still standing house made from wood. Tom slowly sat up into a sitting position on the bed made from, what he guessed anyway, hay or something similar.

He rubbed his eyes and looked around the dirty, messy, home. He saw a couple of wooden chairs gathered around a table with one chair laying on the ground, a book shelf with some books on the shelf's that were covered in dust, he turned his head to the dresser sitting next to the bed and noticed that some of the drawers were opened, some partially and others fully opened. He got up and peaked a look into the closes opened drawer and found the doll shaped like a bear covered in dust, he looked on top of the dresser and spotted some smaller box that, possibly, held jewelry in them at one time or another. He then turned around and noticed the chimney still had traces of wood left in it.

Tom looked back over at the bookshelf and spotted a weird looking guitar leaning against it. He walked over to the bookshelf and picked up the guitar and examined it. Like the room, the guitar was covered in dust. He didn't bother touching the strings in fear that they might snap. He felt a little sad that whoever lived in this house decided to leave behind their instrument, probably an instrument that they more likely then not loved to play often. He thought for a moment before deciding that the instrument would be better in the hands of someone like Peyton.

Tom decided that he was done looking around the house. He remembered that the town was in need of reconstruction, he sat the guitar down on the table and walked out the front door of the house.

Once outside, he heard the sound of hammers hitting boards of wood and people walking and talking. A gust of wind swept through the bustling street causing tom to pull on his parka. Tom grumbled under his breath and began to look around, he spotted a couple of creatures picking up and carrying away some logs, some creatures hammering away at some boards on some buildings, and some applying some mortar to the already standing stones that made a small fence like wall to stack more stones.

Tom exhaled as he turned his head and began to wonder how many times have something like this had happened in the past.

The sound of a familiar calm yet scratchy voice called out to him. The human groaned inwardly before turning his head to see the arctic fox better known as Lask walking up to him. "Let me guess, I'm under arrest for trespassing and having a long wanted good night sleep?"

The arctic fox snorted and responded "If one were to get arrested for having a good night sleep, I think the Perim would be our prison". Tom smirked. There was a short pause before Lask continued "plus, as far as I'm aware, the house you slept in was abandoned. So I guess by ancient tribal knowledge that's technically your house now". The human turned to look back at the house before looking back at the arctic fox. Tom then said "exactly how long has that house been abandon?"  
Lask sighed before answering "roughly...twenty solons". The human arched an eyebrow and then asked "and what is a solon?" The arctic fox answered "every six months the moon does this weird thing where half of it takes on a blue-ish color while the other half takes on a brighter white color. It's very weird yet very astonishing to look at. But, uh, yeah. That what, just about all of Perim as I understand, marks as a passing solon".

Tom, with this knowledge in mind, started counting his knuckles. Lask tilted his head a little to the side as the human did this. Soon, the human spoke "so the house has been abandoned for ten years".  
The arctic fox repeated "years?" the human responded "yeah, we don't do or even know what solons are. So for every two six months, we equate that to one year".

Lask remained silent for a few before mumbling to himself "I'm thirty-nine solons old...so". Tom spoke "that would mean that you are nineteen and a half years old".  
The arctic fox paused for a moment before saying "so what does that mean?".

Tom patted the arctic fox's arm and answered "it just means that you're younger than me...and Sarah...and Kaz...basically just about the rest of us". Lask then asked "so in...years, how old are you?" the man smiled and lightly shook his head before answering "I'm in my mid thirties". 

The fox then gave a confused look and said "but that doesn't..." Tom interrupted the fox by asking "hey do you know where I could find Sarah, Peyton, and Kaz by any chance do you?"  
The arctic fox answered "yeah, they're over by the tavern" and pointed to his right before continuing "but you still didn't..." the human interrupted him again by saying "thank you" and began to walked in the direction that the fox pointed towards. There was a pause before Lask yelled at Tom "you are one weird human Tom. You know that!" the human stopped and turned around and hollered back "Aren't we all weird people!?" The fox paused to think about what the human said for a few moments before yelling back "yeah, yeah that's true!"

Tom smirked before turning back around and went back to running towards the tavern.

When he reached the tavern, he saw his friend and some of the rest of the human group sitting on the snow by the side of the building talking amongst themselves while some of the others were standing around passing cigarettes around and smoking for various reasons.

He slowed down his running and calmly began walking towards them and with a sly smile said "ain't it a little too early to be drinking?"

Kaz looked over his shoulder and replied "depends on how strong it is". Tom scuffled his friends hair and said "smartass" before he sat down next to him. Peyton spoke up "decided to sleep in some? don't know how you did, those beds suck". Tom responded "it beats sleeping on a hardwood floor or some trash covered street corner or even an abandoned hospital gurney. Am I right?" the chubby man looked over at the woman and responded "it's true".

The four continued to talk for about a few more minutes before Tom got up and asked "so, you ready to fix this town or what?". There was a moment of silence, like no one wanted to say anything, then Peyton stood up and stretched his back before saying "well, it ain't like we have anywhere else to go. Might as well get this over with".

Kaz sighed before standing up "so long as we don't have to go back the way we came, sure". Sarah also stood up and responded "well, we don't know what's south of here and what both east and west of here. But so long as we don't have to go anywhere north, lets do this"

Tom clapped his hands together and shouted for the humans both sitting around and standing around the tavern "alright everybody! break times over!" a small crowed started to form around Tom and his three friends. "The town's folk have been ahead of us in repairing this town for who knows how long before we got here, but lets show these guys what some good ol' punks for the Bad Lands can do! Lets show these folks some good ol' human ingenuity!" he shouted in an attempt to drum up some support.

Some of the crowd started quietly speaking to one another before Tom shouted "oh what's the matter?! got to lazy for your own good?!" a couple of people in the crowd responded "no". Tom continued "are we hunting for survival!? are we raiding held down grocery stores for food and water!!?" this time some more people joined the crowd in responding "no!" Tom continued "do you see some people from a rival town running down the mountain side, guns in hands, to kill us just because we got a little bit of electricity!?!" the crowd grew louder with more people joining in "no!"  
Tom continued "that's right! we survived the worst and then some for fifteen long years. Fifteen long years! and here we are given a second chance to start over, to begin again! are you just gonna let that opportunity slide by?!?" the crowd finally grew to maximum responding "no!" Tom paused for a moment to catch his breath before finishing "I didn't think so! now are we going to take that opportunity and take these tools needed to rebuild this town and make it our home! not just your home, not just their home, but our home!" the crowd yelled in response.

Tom turned to look over at his three friends. Kaz smirking and trying to hold back some laughter, Peyton just slowly began clapping, Sarah smiled and light shook her head before speaking "with a speech like that, I think being a sheriff IS the better option". Tom smiled back and responded "hey, someone had to make a crappy speech to get people on board".

Tom then shouted "alright everybody! grab some tools and start looking around for people to help or objects and buildings that need repair! take breaks when the time is right and don't sit on your ass and wait for someone else to start or finish your work!" he paused for a moment to catch his breath before finishing "ok everybody! move out!"

The humans scattered and began to work with the towns residents in repairing their town.

Meanwhile, leaning against a building across from the tavern.

Lask watched Tom give his little speech to encourage the crowd to get to work. He did think to himself that the speech needed some work but overall, he was surprise that the human was able to generate that much of a reaction from that many people with different personalities. The artic fox smiled and acknowledged that Tom was definitely someone who could lead this rag-tag group if he can get his speeches right.

Lask lightly shook his head and spoke to himself "you are one weird human Tom. One weird human indeed" before turning around and started to walk down the road towards a blacksmith shop that was being repaired by a couple of lynxes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this chapter was a little short. I've been busy as of late.


	5. Strahlung Vergiftung

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "The sickness? It followed!?!"  
> \- Kaz Kalinkas.

Hammer struck nail, nail went into wood. Stone stacked on top of stone, it stood. The wall around the city was big, unfortunately, the wall only covered the back of the city. The old, gray haired man stared at the wall for a few minutes and tried to imagine what it would have looked like back when it wrapped around the city.

A hand clapped against his left shoulder, causing him to jump in surprise and quickly turn to face the person who touched him.

A mountain of a snow leopard stood a few feet away from the human. His rounded helm with a pointed, t-shaped opening leaving the eyes, nose and mouth exposed, he wore fur padding around his shoulders with some leather straps over them, but his arms were exposed. His breastplate was made from one large piece of metal that covered the lower part of his neck, sides, back, and stopped at the waist region, where a fur clad loincloth and large metal belt is placed. He wore some fur padded around his kneecaps with a square piece of metal placed on the front.

The gray haired man stared directly up at the snow leopard's different colored eyes. The human forgot what the condition was called, but he knows what condition the creature is going to be in if it doesn't take it's hand of his shoulder. The human slowly and carefully moved his hand towards his back pocket where the stone hammer was placed.

Tom walked over to the side of both the older human and the snow leopard and asked "how's the wall coming?" The words caught both human and creature off guard and caused the both of them to turn and faced the younger human. He continued "do you two need anything?"

"Everything's going great over here sir" the gray haired man answered. Tom turned to look at the creature expecting some kind of response.  
The creature nodded his head in agreement and said "so far, so good. At this pace, the wall should be done by the time the stars appear".

The creature removed it's hand from the older human's shoulder and walked away as if to examine the wall.

Tom watched with an annoyed expression as the creature walked off. The older human looked over his shoulder at the creature and spoke to Tom "don't know who he was or what he wanted. But, I get the feeling that not all of **THEM** like us very much".

Tom replied "we aren't here to be liked".

The gray haired man let out a sigh before turning back around and then asked "then why are we here?"  
The younger human also let out a sigh before answering "I don't know Harold. I made it sound like we struck gold by being here and repairing this town. But...I don't know, it just sounded too good to pass up. Giving our original situation that is".

The gray haired man then leaned closer and whispered "and what about that fox? don't think someone wearing nice clothing lead us here to get it dirty."

Tom shrugged and whispered back "I have no idea. Saw him inside the castle, in the throne, he cut off my conversation with the big boss of this land. I don't know what he told her, but if he lead us here, it must have been by her order".

The gray haired man ran his hand down his hair before continuing "well shit. That doesn't sound good. Not good at all".  
The younger dark haired man responded "no, no it doesn't. Back in the castle, one her guys claimed that she was "impressed" by our "appearance" back when we stepped through the teleporter thing. She also complemented Sarah and I when we back talked and threaten one of her guards, a "Coldwatcher" or something. Don't know how much of it was pure bullshit or genuine though".

Tom shook his head before continuing "it doesn't help that she claims that there are four other tribes somewhere south of here".  
The older man gave the younger man an confused expression before repeating "tribes?" he continued to ask "are we talking like, small raider tribes, cults, or something?"  
The younger man answered "don't know. All she said was tribes, but apparently these "tribes" are big enough to take up a lot of land. Well, that's the general thought I got based on her expression when she mentioned them".

The older man then asked "so let me get this straight. Somewhere, down south of here, there are four "tribes" that take up a lot of land and, for all we know, could either be giant war bands of raiders or actual civilizations that we know next to nothing about. Do they at least have names or something?"  
Tom nodded and answered "yeah, their names are Overworlders, Underworlders, Mipedians, and Danians".

The older man followed up by saying "ok, outside from the first two having less than creative names. Are they peaceful?, warlike?, are they at war with each other?, will they attack us on sight?, like, anything useful for when the shit hits the fan and we need to leave and head into one of their territories?"  
Tom gave the older man an annoyed look before responding "do I look like I've met anyone from any of these tribes before? because I remember following a arctic fox all the way here instead of booking it down south".

The older man sighed and leaned back. He stared at the gray sky and asked "so what happens now?"  
Tom giving a confused look answered "we help rebuild this town? I don't know what you're getting at here".

The older man continued to stare at the sky and spoke "what I'm trying to say is. Are we safe? I heard Sarah talk about us living here once reconstruction is complete, but, what happens after that? are we going to be under the rule of someone else? are we going to be drafted as low ranking solders? are we going to be independent? so many questions, next to no answers".  
The younger man asked "you think this is a good idea?"

The older man looked down to face Tom and answered with a stern yet unsure response "I think we're digging our own grave. Just under the gist of warm words instead of barrels pointed to the back of the head".

Tom nodded his head in understanding. He wanted this to be true. A place where his kind didn't have to struggle day-to-day to get by, a quite place, a place to settle down and call home. But deep down, he knew it was starting to feel too good to be true. It didn't help that when he and Sarah were talking to Maria-Asg that she made it sound like he and his fellow humans were going to get what they secretly wanted.

Tom was about to say something when a human man named Darrel ran up to him and a frantic like state.

"Tom! Ivan! we got an emergency!" the human said quickly.

The older man looked over at Darrel and asked "what's wrong?"  
Darrel quickly explained "Jackson, Turner, and Elisabeth were working on a building across from the tavern when all three of them just started getting sick".

Tom asked "sick? like cold or runny nose or something?"  
Darrel quickly responded "No! like headaches, vomiting, rapid heartbeat..." before Darrel was able to finish, Tom looked over at the older man with a worried look and said "oh shit! Ivan let's go!"

The older man responded "right behind you!" as he followed Tom towards the tavern.

The duo reached the tavern after running through a few alleyways, and upon approaching the building, both Tom and Ivan spotted Peyton crouching to the side of the blond man named Turner, with both Jackson and Elisabeth laying right beside him. A crowd of both humans and creatures gathered around and see the commotion.

"How bad are they!?" Tom asked as he skidded to a stop next to Peyton.  
"BAD" Peyton said as he held his hand on top Turner's forehead. The chubbier man continued "and they're getting worst". He stood up and turned to face both human men and said "at this rate, I don't think they will have long until they hit permanent 'game over', made worst by the fact that I don't have my tools, or anything for that matter, to treat them or at least slow the process down".

Ivan spoke up and asked "so what do we do?"  
Peyton sighed inwardly as he turned to look at the three humans, he then turned back to face Tom and Ivan and said "the only thing I can think to do is take them into one of the abandoned homes and make them as comfortable as we can".

Tom nodded his head in agreement. "Peyton, get whoever in the crowd here to help you carry them inside" he said.  
Peyton nodded his head before he turned to his left and ordered for a couple of humans to help him carrying them.

Tom grabbed Ivan's right arm and pulled him out of the crowd before speaking "Ivan, someone around here has to know about this illness and how to cure it".  
Ivan looked Tom dead in the eye and replied "and what if these creatures don't want to tell us squat? they probably don't even want us here to begin with".

Tom starred back at Ivan and said almost impatiently "I don't give a fuck if they like us or not!, three people are about to die, and if they want to play hard to get then pry whatever kind of information out of them as best as you can!"  
Ivan nodded and then asked "and what are you going to do?"

Tom answered before taking off in the direction he last saw Lask "I'm going to go talk to a particular fox and see if he knows anything about this, or better yet, if he knows how to cure their illness".  
Ivan quickly asked "and what if he don't know jack?"

Tom quickly answered "he's bound to know something, otherwise, I don't think he got as far as I think he did by just sitting on his ass and kicking his feet!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry that I haven't updated this story in about two months. I've just been having a hard time finding the motivation to type up this chapter lately. Don't worry, I have not abandoned this story nor Royal Ambassador and I will continue to update them whenever I find the time.


End file.
